Old Flames and True Love
by Copper's Mama
Summary: Christy/Neil fic. Neil receives an important letter, and an old friend from Christy's past shows up in the cove to make things difficult. Please read and review!


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_A Christy/Neil fic. _

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_Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Christy, the book or the show. _

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_A/N: I absolutely love this pairing. I loved the rivalry between the preacher and the doctor, and love that Christy ended up choosing the older, grouchier, non-believer, over the younger, clichéd choice.  
>I've had about a dozen ideas popping around for this pairing, this is the first one I've managed to put onto "paper". <em>

_This fic takes place around the end of the TV show, but as though David didn't propose again, and Margaret dies instead of going into remission. Christy and Neil begin growing closer, and then he gets the news about Margaret, and an old friend of Christy's shows up to throw a monkey wrench into the works. _

_I hope you guys like this, I know I'll love writing it. _

_As always, please read and review, I live for feedback! _

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Christy smiled down at Dr. Neil MacNeill as he enthralled the children with one of his latest science lessons. This week's theme - finally - was hygiene, and the children were looking through the microscope at slides of bacteria. She was ever so grateful for the doctor's influence over the children - when he said something, his word was pure gospel to the children. They didn't try to argue or twist _his_ words. She loved them, to be true, but they were a handful.

Neil finished his lesson, allowing the children to help him carefully gather up his equipment and put it away.

Christy assigned them their nightly homework and sent them on their way to their respective homes, smiling at the thought of the progress they were making.

"I'd say that was a fair success," Neil commented.

Christy turned, beaming at him. "Absolutely. I'm so pleased with how the children are enjoying your visits."

"I dare say they're not the only ones," he replied with a confident grin.

Christy blushed lightly at that, fiddling with the books in her hands. "Dare you say," she spoke back to him, bringing the texts over to her desk and stacking them into a neat pile.

"I have some ideas for a new lesson along this theme," Neil told her, walking around to the side of the desk. "Perhaps you'd take a ride down to my humble abode, and I could run some of the ideas by you. If you're not too busy, that is."

Christy blinked several times, raising her head to meet his eyes. "That would be -"

"Hello! Hello! U.S. Mail!" Mr. Pentland's voice rang out, halting Christy's response.

The spell that had briefly fallen over them shattered, drawing their attention and gazes to the man approaching the church/schoolhouse.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Pentland," Christy greeted, walking with Neil towards the steps of the building.

"And to you, Miss Christy. Got you a letter here from folks in Asheville," the mailman told her, handing the pristine envelope to her.

Christy smiled, accepting the letter graciously. "Thank you, Mr. Pentland."

"And for you, Doc," the sweating-but-smiling man continued, handing a letter to Neil as well. "Came down from Atlanta."

Christy glanced over at Neil, wondering who would be writing to him from Atlanta. An old colleague or schoolmate, perhaps.

"Thanks to you," Neil replied, nodding politely at the mail carrier.

"You's have a good'un, now," Mr. Pentland told them, tipping his hat towards Christy in farewell.

They replied in kind, each of them opening their own letters.

Christy's eyes poured over her mother's handwritten sentiments greedily, smiling uncontrollably at the warmth that emanated from the page. "Oh, mother," Christy spoke softly, pleasantly touched at the kind words and well wishes. She made a plan to write her reply as soon as she arrived back at the mission. Christy glanced up at Neil to see if he'd received equal good news, and was shocked to see that the letter had fallen from his grip, leaving him standing there with a blank expression on his face. From what she could reckon, his skin had paled a few shades as well. "Neil?"

He didn't respond, simply stared off into space.

"Doctor MacNeill? What is it?" Christy inquired, concern filling her voice. He'd obviously received bad news. Christy glanced at the letter on the ground, bending to pick it up. Curiosity thrummed within her, begging her to read what had shocked him so, but she couldn't. It was addressed to him, after all. Not her. To read it would be against the law, and that would be a sin. In a church, no less. "Doctor MacNeill?" she repeated, hopeful that he would give her some indication as to what he'd read.

He seemed to come to a couple seconds later, blinking his eyes down at her. He saw the letter in her hand, and slowly brought his own up to take it from her. "It's ... about Margaret. She's ... the disease has run its course. She passed away."

Christy gasped softly in surprise, understanding entirely why he'd been so shocked. Neil MacNeill may not be the most happily married man in the world, and while she knew he had no desire to ever lay eyes on Margaret MacNeill ever again, she could understand his distress at not at least being able to bring his dying wife some peace before she passed on. "Oh, Neil, I'm so sorry," Christy breathed, slowly bringing her hand up to his arm.

Neil nodded, clenching the letter in his fist.

When he didn't pull away - and even seemed to draw some comfort from the contact of her skin - Christy moved closer, slowly wrapping her arms around the grieving widower. "I'm sorry," she replied, not knowing what else to say.

Neil accepted the embrace, sinking into it and closing his eyes. He had fallen out of love with Margaret the second he'd found out she'd faked her death to escape him and the place that she so loathed, but he couldn't stop the guilt that he felt for not being by her side when she passed. Tuberculosis did not bring about a peaceful or painless death.

They stood in the doorway of the schoolhouse, holding onto one another for an indeterminable amount of time. Christy tried to pour all of her compassion and sympathy into the embrace, wanting more than anything to take away some, if not all, of the pain that he felt.

After a while, Neil pulled away. Christy expected to see tears, or at least bloodshot eyes, but his expression was nearly as blank as when she'd first looked upon it. "I need to find Alice," Neil spoke in a detached voice.

Christy nodded, a new rush of sorrow and sympathy flooding her body. She knew how much this would hurt the older woman. "I'll come with you."

They turned and descended the steps together, walking towards the Mission with heavy hearts.

...

Miss Alice kept to herself for the rest of the night, lighting a candle for her departed daughter, and sitting in prayer for the estranged girl's soul. However slighted she may have been by her only child, she loved her with all the strength and forgiving fortitude of any other mother.

Christy's heart ached for the older woman, wanting nothing more than to go to her side and throw her arms around her. She couldn't, though. Miss Alice had requested solitude, and Christy was empathetic and obedient enough to listen.

She was worried about Neil, as well. He had left the Mission shortly after informing Miss Alice of Margaret's death, sparing a parting look for Christy as he went. She presumed that he'd returned home ... she hoped he was coping safely. She didn't want him to do anything foolish that could end with him being hurt.

Knowing that he wanted to be alone for now, Christy returned to her room in the Mission, lighting the lantern on her desk. She couldn't sleep, she knew that, so she set about writing a reply to her parents, putting as much cheer into it as she could.

...

A week went by, and all of a sudden a shadow fell across her desk. For a fleeting moment, Christy feared that it was Lundy Taylor looming over her, and looked up sharply. She held a hand to her chest when she saw it was only Neil. "Oh, Doctor, you frightened the life right out of me."

"I apologize," he stated, holding back a grin. "Didn't mean to creep up on you."

Christy eyed him in disbelief. "If that had not been your intention, you would have called before you were looming so mysteriously over my desk." She didn't tell him how much she'd missed seeing that devilish twinkle in his eyes.

"You may have a point," Neil conceded.

Christy removed her hand from her fluttering heart, shifting the papers that she'd been grading into a neater stack. "Well, what brings you down to the schoolhouse, Doctor MacNeill?"

Neil didn't tell her how he wished she would call him Neil on a consistent basis. He so loved hearing his name on her lips. "I wanted to know when would be the best time to bring in that new lesson I was telling you about. I have some research books on the health benefits of bathing that I wanted to show you." He dropped the "before" that he almost put on the end of that sentence. The last thing he wanted to talk about was Margaret.

Christy smiled softly, happy that he was back. "How does Thursday morning work for you?"

Neil nodded. "Excellent. I still have some ideas to run by you, of course. I'd trade your listening ear for a nice - unburnt - meal down by the river, if you should so desire."

Christy blushed a light, pink tinge at the last word, clearing her throat to will the color away. "I believe I can make some time for such an event. I'm interested to see what you have in mind ... for the children, that is."

"You'll not be disappointed, I'm sure," Neil replied. "Shall I fetch you at six?"

Christy thought how that might look, and lightly shook her head. "I can ride Prince out."

"Are you sure?" Neil inquired, slightly uneasy about her making the trek herself - not that she hadn't done it a dozen times before. This time felt different, though.

"I assure you, I can manage. I will finish up here, let Miss Alice know where I am headed, and then prepare. Six o'clock?"

Neil nodded with a swaggering smile. "Six o'clock." He left with a wave, tromping down the stairs with an unmistakable bounce in his step.

...

"This was all so wonderful, Neil," Christy complimented, her stomach satisfied, though her eyes were hungry for more. "You are an admirable cook."

Neil shrugged in mock modesty. "I do what I can with what I have."

Christy rolled her eyes. They had enjoyed a comfortable meal, talking when a new subject arose, and trying not to get caught glancing at the other over their cutlery. Neil had certainly cleaned up nice in the time since he'd left the schoolhouse. He was dressed in a what some might call his Sunday best, with clean, dark pants, an unstained white shirt, with a blue and green vest buttoned over it. Christy herself had shamelessly dressed herself up for the meal, wearing one of her finer blue dresses, while her hair hung around her in delicate waves. She hadn't caught the knowing look on Miss Alice's face when she'd left the Mission to ride to Neil's cabin.

Neil stood from the table, excusing himself for a moment. When he returned, he was holding the phonograph. He set it up on the ledge, as he had before, selecting the music he wished to play.

"This feels familiar," Christy commented, fighting her blush when Neil walked over to her purposefully.

"Indeed it does," the well-dressed doctor admitted, bowing with flourish and holding out a hand. "May I have this dance, Miss Christy?"

Christy smiled without control. "You may."

How different it felt to dance with him, with no ulterior motives hidden up her fine sleeves. The last time they'd shared dinner and dance, it was to convince him to take Daniel Scott on as his apprentice. There was no need for such motives now. At least, not from her. They'd yet to look at the lesson plan he'd prodded her up here with.

Christy couldn't bring herself to interrupt the dance, and so didn't mention her secondary desire to have a look at the books he'd mentioned before. She was secretly enjoying how it felt to be in his arms once again. He really was a beautiful dancer.

When the song came to an end, he dipped her dramatically, smiling down at her shocked face.

"Why, Doctor MacNeill, you are just full of surprises," Christy commented, holding onto his back tightly, even though she had no worry that he would drop her.

"Glad you've noticed," he replied, his eyes flitting to her lips briefly before he pulled her back up. "You make a beautiful dance partner yourself."

Christy smiled her thanks. She glanced up at the graying sky, meeting Neil's eye after a moment. "It's starting to get late," she commented. "We should probably have a look at those books you mentioned.

Neil nodded, though his expression told her he'd be more than happy to stay right where he was, with Christy in his arms, dancing until the moon shone brightly above them.

...

_End of chapter one. _

_I don't know how long this story will be yet, we'll have to see. _

_Well, what did you think? Like it, hate it? _

_Reviews are appreciated, flame if you must, but constructive criticism is much more useful. _

_Until next time ...!_


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